


A New Duster

by fourshoesfrank



Category: Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
Genre: Origin Story, enjoy, this was for a school assignment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 22:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15082646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourshoesfrank/pseuds/fourshoesfrank
Summary: how the Dust Witch came to be part of the carnival





	A New Duster

    Voski Farid was born with eyes the color of a freshly minted gold coin. She came into the world under the pitch black sky of a new moon, on a road connecting Turkey and Armenia. The girl’s heavily superstitious Romani parents took the shiny eyes as a sign of good things to come, because they seemed to glow in the dark that shrouded the land for miles. The midwife suggested that they name her Voski, which meant ‘gold’ in the local language. Voski’s parents, Lennor and Hafiz, paid the midwife handsomely for helping to deliver such a lucky baby.  


    The family of three traveled farther west for several months. As Voski grew older, her parents feared the girl’s eyes would fade to a shade of brown or hazel, but they kept their coin-like sheen and coloring. When the trio stopped in a Greek fishing town for a week, many of the town’s residents admired Voski’s captivating eyes. Hafiz suggested that they attempt to profit off of their daughter’s unusual feature. Lennor agreed, and the couple began accepting small payments from people who stopped to ogle at Voski.  


    The family continued going west for the next three years, until Lennor was approached by the ringmaster of a traveling circus who asked if she and Hafiz wanted jobs in the circus crew. Lennor responded that she could do him one better and give his circus a unique exhibit, a child with hypnotic golden eyes. The ringmaster agreed and told them to find their way to the collection of tents just outside town by the next morning.  


    Hafiz was thrilled to be in the ringmaster’s employment. He had grown up in a traveling theater, so life in a traveling circus was very inviting to him. He and Lennor had no doubt that Voski would enjoy the performer's life as well. She was almost four years old, and her eyes still shone with the same gold gleam as they had when she was born. The little girl had quite a flair for the dramatic, always waiting until the last second to do as she was told and pretending to boss imaginary people around.  


    While the circus traveled, the Farids shared a wagon with the ticket salesman. He was a blind old man named Marcus Stallings. Marcus taught the three of them the rules of the circus. He became a sort of grandfather figure to Voski.  


    The ringmaster suggested that Voski sit in the ticket booth with Marcus until she was old enough to be trusted with her own tent. Nobody had any doubt that the combination of her unique eyes and her easygoing charm could be trusted to bring a lot of profit to the circus. But until she was old enough, she sat with Marcus and sold tickets. This bored her, but she was lectured over and over about the importance of what she was doing.  


    When Voski was nine years old, she joined the freak show as ‘Hypno-Girl’, so named because if an unsuspecting someone looked her in the eye for too long they began to feel as if they had been hypnotized. During her first week in the tent, she raked in cash almost as fast as the other workers, if not faster.  


    For the next seven years, the Farids accompanied the circus as it wound its way around eastern Europe and western Asia. Voski loved her work, because it often didn’t feel like work at all. Sitting in a tent conversing with all sorts of interesting strangers for ten minutes at a time was fun for her. Her parents could see that she enjoyed it, and the ringmaster treated her fairly, so their family stayed with the circus until Voski was sixteen.  


    While celebrating her sixteenth birthday, Voski and a few of the other freaks went out dancing in the large Turkish city the circus was currently stopped in. While she was dancing, Voski twisted her ankle on a low spot in the ground. Leaving her friends to their fun, she sat down on the steps of a nearby building’s doorway and rubbed her throbbing ankle.  


    “Danced a little too hard?” a deep voice chuckled from the dark space beyond the steps. Voski looked around, but saw no one. She decided to stay quiet and hope the stranger wasn’t talking to her.  


    “I’m talking to you, Hypno-Girl,” the voice said. Voski jumped, startled. The circus hadn’t yet opened in this particular city yet, so how did this local know her stage name?  


    “I know many things.”  


    This was getting stranger than she would like. Voski decided to invite her friends to go eat something, in a restaurant far away from this doorway. She stood up, only to abruptly sit back down again when her injured ankle sent a jolt of pain up her left leg.  


    “Do you know how to set a twisted ankle?” she asked through gritted teeth.  


    The owner of the voice stepped into the light, revealing a tall man wearing a tight-fitting dark suit. He sat down beside her, rolling up his sleeves and reaching for her aching ankle. Voski saw that his forearms and hands were covered in tattoos.  


    Suddenly, he withdrew his hands. “I’ll do you one better,” he said, and she thought that something in his voice had changed. He seemed more relaxed, less demanding. Like he already knew how this conversation would end. “If I heal your foot, you’ll come with me and I’ll employ you in my carnival. I promise it’s better than the backwoods freak show you’re in now. Don’t you think it’s time for a change?”  


    Voski swallowed uncomfortably. “I’ll answer that question after you fix my ankle.”  


    The tall man rubbed his hands over her leg for a moment, closed his eyes, and announced, “Done. Now, girl, answer me.”  


    “I- I’ll do it. Where did your carnival set up?”  


    “Just outside the south wall,” he replied. “Follow me.”  


    The two of them walked for well over an hour, until they reached a large field full of dark-colored canvas tents. Voski had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Carnival, circus, whatever; they weren’t supposed to be this quiet. Her own circus was alway humming with activity no matter the time of day or night.  


    “Now, we have to think of a suitable act for you,” the tattooed man mused as he lead her to one tent that was larger than the rest. “Step inside, step inside.”  


    “I already have an act,” Voski protested. “I’m Hypno-Girl, remember? You knew that without even buying a ticket for my circus.”  


    “Hypnotism acts bore me,” he said offhandedly, as if that justified ignoring Voski’s unique eyes and forcing her to learn an entirely new skill for no reason.  


    He seemed to know what she was thinking, again, because he fixed her with an uncomfortably intense stare as he said, “While you are in my employment, you will not defy me. If I hear anyone, anyone, talking about a girl with golden eyes who performed a hypnotism act, I will not hire you to this carnival and I will ensure that no respectable establishment ever employs you for the rest of your life. Do I make myself clear?”  


    “Yes,” Voski said softly. “Yes, sir.”  


    “Good. Cooger!” he shouted, “Get in here!” Another tall man, this one with flaming red hair, entered the tent as if on cue.  


    “Ah, this the new freak?” the redhead asked the tattooed man.  


    “Yes. What shall we have her do, I wonder?”  


    “Those eyes...maybe she could--”  


    “If you say ‘hypnotize’ I am going to punch you in the throat.”  


    “Sorry. We need a new Duster, you know.”  


    “Of course! Good thinking. Voski, come with me. We’re going to give you the ability to feel the presence of souls.” Without waiting for a reply, the two men walked out of the tent and headed for the woods surrounding the field. Voski followed, but the uneasy feeling in her stomach grew worse.  


    They stopped in front of a mound of dirt that looked like it had been disturbed recently. The tattooed man told Voski to kneel on the middle of the mound, then he lifted a fallen branch from the ground and hit her over the head with it. Voski was knocked unconscious instantly.  


    When she came to, she was blind. She began to panic, thinking that the blow to her head had affected her vision. Faintly, she heard a voice speaking, but she didn’t know if they were addressing her and she couldn’t understand what was being said. After a few moment, she drifted back to sleep.  


    A little while later, Voski awoke again. She sensed a man standing over her, but she didn’t know how she knew he was there. She couldn’t see.  


    “I see you’re awake.” It was the voice of the tattooed man. “Congratulations, you can see with your hands. You sense the souls of those around you.” She felt him spread his arms as if to say, ‘You’re welcome.’  


    “What did you do to me?” Voski asked him, her voice rasping in her throat. “What did you do to my eyes?”  


    “We imbued you with the power of the Duster, but his spirit wanted something in return. We had to give him your eyes as payment. Don’t worry, you won’t miss them.”  


    “And I suppose all of this is to give me a solid act in your carnival,” she said bitterly.  


    “Oh, yes.” She sensed that he was smiling. “Welcome to Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show, Dust Witch.”

**Author's Note:**

> leave me some feedback you forgetful hobgoblins


End file.
